GEORGIA BULLETIN, THURSDAY, AUGUST, 29, 1968 3
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REPORT ON ARCHDIOCESAN SCHOOLS
(ED. NOTE: The following report on parochial schools in
the Archdiocese of Atlanta was written by Father Daniel J.
O’Connor, secretary of Catholic Education.)
A sharp drop in elementary enrollment, the first ever
experienced by the schools of the Archdiocese, was the single
most significant fact of the past school year 1967-68.
On the elementary level 5864 students attended our
schools, a drop of 778 fromtheyear before. On the high school
level, there were 1729 students, 23 less than the previous year.
The total enrollment for the schools of the Archdiocese was
7953. This was a. drop of 802 students from last year’s 8395.
This sharp decrease in attendance paralled a trend in
Catholic education throughout the country for the past several
years. It was, however, the first time that the total attendance
of the schools in the Archdiocese of Atlanta dropped, and the
decrease of almost 10% was far higher than the 5.5% drop on
the national level.
Several factors can be cited for this drop. The continued
rise in tuition rates is perhaps the most important. In some of
our schools last year, the tuition rose sharply, and the average
tuition for elementary schools of the Archdiocese is now close
to $200. The general rise in all educational costs, especially the
constant increase in salaries for both our lay teachers and
religious, leads us to expect that this tuition increase will
continue.
The second reason for the decrease was an effort on the
part of most of our schools to reduce the class size. I believe it
will come as a surprise to the people of the Archdiocese to
realize that the present teacher-pupil ratio in our elementary
schools is approximately 1 to 29. The effort to get schools
ready for accreditation is the most significant cause for this
deliberate attempt to reduce class size.
Not only was class size reduced, but several of our schools
dropped grades. In some cases where there were two classes in
one grade, one was eliminated. Two schools, Sacred Heart in
Griffin and St. Joseph in Athens, dropped their 7th and 8th
Grades. This was necessary because students from these
schools must go into public high schools, and parents choose,
for various reasons, to begin them in public schools on the 7th
and 8th Grade level. St. Gerard School at Ft. Oglethorpe will
drop its 7th and 8th Grades this year due to a continued
decrease in attendance at this level.
Another reason or the decline in attendance is the change
in attitude on the part of many Catholic parents. There is no
longer a stigma attached in taking children from Catholic
schools and putting them into public schools. The very fact
that Catholic education is so extremely expensive today forces
many parents to at least consider this.
We believe, therefore, that it is more important than ever
that parish Boards of Education realize that their parish school
is competing with excellent public schools. If we are to keep
our schools open, we must assure our parents that rises in
tuition will result in better education. We can no longer expect
parents to pay high tuition for overcrowded class rooms, an
imcomplete curriculum, and teachers who do not meet
minimum state certification requirements. The sacrifices we
are now asking our parents to make to give their children a full
Catholic education are too great to provide anything but
quality education.
On the high school level, the drop in enrollment was very
small despite the fact that Drexel High School was closed at
the end of last year. The majority of the Drexel students were
absorbed into the student population at St. Joseph and St.
Pius X High Schools. For the first time this past year, St. Pius
X had a waiting list for new enrollees, and St. Joseph High
School was filled to capacity. The high school situation,
therefore, continues to be healthy, and indications are that the
demand for Catholic education at this level will equal, if not
exceed, our capacity to provide it in the immediate future.
The past year saw many other changes in the educational
programs of the Archdiocese. The Archdiocesan Board of
Education, in operation for the second year, wrote policies
that will insure the orderly preparation for accreditation by
our elementary schools. The new policies in many cases were
similar to the standards of the Southern Association. They
cover class size, lay teacher salaries, annual school budgets, and
the use of full-time principals. The policies also called for
affiliation of all our elementary schools with the Southern
Association by September , 1968.
In the area of elementary education, the trend toward
ungraded Reading classes continued, so that now almost all of
our schools teach Reading by this method. The self-evaluation
study begun by our elementary schools three years ago was
brought to a conclusion. The report that issued from our
schools’ evaluations will provide parish Boards of Education
with a clear picture of the strength and weakness of then-
schools, and thus allow our Boards to make orderly and
symstematic improvements in each school’s program.
Finally, we are pleased to announce that the Sisters of
Mercy agreed to assign a Sister to act as Director of
Elementary Education beginning this coming year. Her duties
will be to revise and revitalize the entire elementary program,
-thus insuring better .education in our schools.
In_the area of Secondary Education, Father John Cotter,
Principal of St. Pius X High School, began to. serve the
^Archdiocese in his new position as Director of Secondary
Education. In that position he undertook a reorganization of
the secondary program by appointing Departmental Chairmen
for all areas of the high school curriculum. These chairmen
come from all four Catholic high schools in the Archdiocese.
They will work, together to update and revise the secondary
curriculum and experiment with new training methods,
courses of studies, and materials.
Father Cotter was also instrumental in obtaining four
Sisters from the Immaculate Heart of Mary order of Monroe,
Michigan, for service in the Archdiocese. Two Sisters will teach
at St. Pius X High School, and two will conduct the religious
education program at Holy Cross parish. This use of religious
personnel for work both in our Catholic high schools and a
parish religious education program is perhaps indicative of a
trend that will be more significant in the future as the Church
attempts to balance its resources to pr.ovide better religious
education for all of its children.
Father Anthony Morris made great strides in organizing the
Office of Religious Education. Father Morris is the first priest
in the Archdiocese to serve full-time in Religious Education. It
is interesting to note that next year there will be seven
full-time religious and lay people in this work. Father Morris
will have Sister assisting him in his office, and five other Sisters
or lavmen will be serving full-time in different parishes
throughout the Archdiocese.
Father Morris was able to conduct a much more thorough
census of children in our parish schools of Religion this past
year, which is found in this report. This census indicates that
there was a 70% increase in the number of students registered
in Schools of Religion. Much of this increase can, of course, be
accounted for by the more systematic process of registering
and reporting the children in the Schools of Religion.
It is significant, nevertheless, to notice that the total
number of children in these schools was 7902. This means that
for the first time more children were receiving religious
education in parish Schools of Religion than in our parochial
and Archdiocesan elementary and high schools.
Since no new parochial schools are being constructed at the
present time, and since there are no plans for new parish
elementary or Archdiocesan high schools, this trend can only
continue. We must work, therefore, to strengthen the
Archdiocesan program of religious education in the years
ahead. Training of catechists must have top priority, but the
entire program must be able to develop, including systematic
evaluation and supervision of parish Schools of Religion, and
an increased effort to improve and strengthen these parish
catechetical efforts. The area of adult religious education is
extremely important, too, and must not be overlooked.
For the first time this annual report also includes statistics
for the Newman program in the colleges and universities in the
Archdiocese. This indicates our growing awareness of our duty
to continue to meet the religious needs of the young people of
the Archdiocese. Over 90% of our Catholic high school
graduates, and a proportionately high percentage of Catholics
graduating from public high schools continue their educations.
As they do so, their knowledge of their religion and their
commitment to the Christian way of life must be increased at
the same time. More and qualified personnel, better facilities,
and new and more interesting approaches must characterize
the renewed effort in this extremely important apostolate.
A glance at last year, then, reveals in-our Archdiocese, the
change and evolution that characterizes the state of Catholic
education everywhere. We must not be afraid to face it; we
must accept it and learn from it. We need not fear it, because
it offers to all of us in the field of education - priests, religious,
and laity - new and striking opportunities to do the task we
are committed to better than ever before.
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